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July 27, 2007
Friday Feathers - I See You, Too
Photographing birds is a challenge. First you have to find them, then you sit and pray the bird will stay in one place long enough to capture its image. Then you have to hope that the image is a decent one. If you want a certain type of shot, say, with the bird looking directly into the camera, well... I think that's pure luck. In all my forays into the woods and elsewhere, it's been a rare occurrence that the bird is looking in my direction. They're usually looking everywhere else but directly at the camera. When it happens and I manage to get the shot, the result always includes the inevitable out-of-focus beak or eyes.
Sometimes I'm lucky and the dead-on shots aren't so bad. Eyes are in focus and clear, and the out-of-focus beak isn't an issue. (I'm sure there's a way around this, I just haven't learned it yet.) Here are some of my favorites. AKA, the "I See You" set.
The American Robin in the photo above has a bit of a sinister look to it (they sing beautifully but always look angry or frantic), the Great Egret next to it looks as though it's making goofy faces on purpose and the Brown-headed Cowbird looks like Darth Vader.
The European Starling looks like a rock star, the Canadian Goose looks intense and the rooster doesn't look like it's ready for another cockadoodledoo (maybe a nap instead.)
I often wonder what the bird sees when it looks my way. I'm sure they're looking at the lens of my camera, perhaps they think it's the branch of a tree. I've read some stories where birds have actually perched on zoom lenses, so it wouldn't surprise me if a bird lands on mine one day. If one does, of course it will screw up the shot. :-)
Cindy
Comments
Think you are a very good photographer Cindy
Brain matter deposited by: Joost Plattel on July 28, 2007 11:51 AM
your canadian geese are so very different to ours. i love the picture of the robin - very festive.
meh
Brain matter deposited by: zed on July 28, 2007 4:33 PM
did you forget the obligatory "cheeze" on those photos?
nevertheless, you're still annie oakley with a camera.
Brain matter deposited by: RONW on July 29, 2007 2:22 AM
I tried to take a photo of a red-cardinal but he kept moving all the time and I only had a phone-camera to do it with. I did ask him to smile but I think he was listening in Cantonese while I was speaking in English....
Brain matter deposited by: Ozg on July 30, 2007 1:05 AM
Oh, I'd bet you'd get the shot.
Brain matter deposited by: Kat on July 30, 2007 3:32 PM
Kat - I don't know about that.. perhaps after I shooed the bird away from the lens...
Ozg - it would be terrific if they knew enough to stay still until we got the shot; that plus birds should be multilingual. :-)
RonW - As if... "say CHEESE!" LOL. Annie Oakley? Cool!
Zoe - that's cuz your geese are Belgian. :-)
Joost - dank je wel! :-)
Brain matter deposited by: Cindy on July 31, 2007 4:20 PM
I've once seen a male turkey vulture attempt to screw the bajesus out of large zoom lens before... It was just a mess.
Brain matter deposited by: KensterJ on July 31, 2007 5:35 PM
oh shit, i think i was thinking about egyptian geese which we do get over here.
Brain matter deposited by: zed on August 1, 2007 3:27 PM